hikite
2020-07-28, 10:07 AM
I had alot of fun putting this storyline together. It is a collection of 1e - 5e lore. The story is an Orcus from the future changes the weave in time and goes back for a do over. I hope you enjoy the read, and would appreciate any comments. The modules that I used to make the magic happen were: Hightower Tor, Wreck Ashore, Tomb of Abysthor, White Plume Mountain, Tomb of Horrors, Ravenloft, City of the Spider Queen, Return to Tomb of Horrors, and H1 - H4.
Orcus has lived for well over 1000 years. He was a mortal that spent his life being truly evil. Living in the Prime Material Plane, and as all evil mortals his soul went to the Abyss. To become Orcus he climbed his way through the Demonic ranks until he became a Balor. From there he became Demon Lord, and then Prince of the Undead.
In 1347 DR Orcus was planning a massive campaign to make the heavens, earth, and Abyss all under his rule; and wrought of all living creatures. He was sculpting Generals for his armies. One was the Red Wizard Zhengyi whom he turned into a lich. Zhengyi made Castle Perilous to protect his phylactery in 1348 DR. By 1357 DR Castle Perilous and Orcus lost their power when Gareth Dragonsbane and his party found and stole orcus' wand; then returned to rule over Bloodstone.
Doresain was at one time a vassal of Orcus, his right hand, and the King of Ghouls. He was given the priviledge to command the King's Layer of the Abyss. Yeenoghu invaded and conquered this layer, because Orcus had no power. Doresain was forced to swear fealty and pay hommage to the Beast of Butchery. Yeenoghu eventually loses control of the layer and the King. He now is exploring all possibilities to reastablish his dominance. Doresain feels betrayed by Orcus, and vows to finish his plan of universal occupancy by the dead, and make himself a greater deity.
With the wand stolen from Orcus in 1357 DR, and his generals eliminated; Kiransalee saw an opportunity to kill the Blood Lord and did. The Vengeful Banshee didnt rule the realm for too long. The Lord of the Undead was resurrected as Tenebrous, and reclaimed his domain through mastery of The Last Word. Kiransalee was unwillingly forced to be a vassal of Lolth, and was until shortly before her death. While she was alive the banshee made a move by getting her High Prietess Irae T'sarran to create a weave of corruption to summon Kiransalee's Undying Temple to the Prime Plane, and create a nonstop Graverending. This was posible as the Silence of Lloth began in 1372 DR, and Lolthites were powerless. The Undying Temple was not summoned, and worshippers of Lolth didnt convert to Kiransalee. She spent her last moments blaming Lolth and Orcus for her demise.
Orcus was eventually killed again by the Power of the Last Word which he used to return himself to ruling Thanatos. Quah-Nomag was one of his high priests and thralls; He raised Orcus in the Astral Plane, 1440 DR. Losing his power of Divinity once again lowered his standing to a Demon Lord; and he used the vestige of Tenebrous to restore some of his divinity. With time passing into the late 1500s DR he found himelf in the Underdark. There he used his Necromatic power to control a dead elder brain named Cyrog. It is here that being in control of this dead mindflayer brain that new possibilities to bring Orcus back to being a major player begin to form. Orcus is able to remember back through time, and see mistakes that were made by him and others. He then over hundreds of years begins to peice together how to fix his mistakes, Gather the perfect Generals for his armies, Fix Their mistakes and assure his victory over the heavens and earth. Learning that Shar killed Mystra in 1400s DR and this created the spellplague. This sent spellplague ripples through space and time. He charges Quah-Nomag with discovering a spell to predict when, where, and time these portals will open to.
Tenebrous puts his plan into action when he travels through a spellplague rift, and goes back in time to 1000 DR, or 175 IR according to Kalamar Imperial Reckoning calendars. There was a mage that caught the eye of Orcus, by the name of Keraptis who dedicated his life to immortality. He is noted in greyhawk history as early as Circa Year -1500. He was known for demanding payments for his protecting services; especially in the Griff Mountains by controlling the local Warlords. Around -1100 CY Keraptis started demanding the tribes pay him with all firstborn children for protection. The tribes eventually revolted, and forced Keraptis to leave the area. He spent hundreds of years experimenting on these children and others; Eventually after claiming White Plume mountain around -800 CY as his; hundreds of experiments on all kinda of beings that were trapped in the mountain. In 90 CY Keraptis was able to create a ritual that would send his consciousness into a fetus. He chose one from the Balor Tarnhem and a woman Kecethri. The child was named Acererak and was stillborn a human lich, half-fiend. Keraptis' conscience then brought undeath to the child. Now calling himself Acererak he takes up the sign of the Devourer, and begins different ways to plot the end of the human race. Any sight of Keraptis, and his phylactery have never been seen again.
Orcus' first use of the portal travel is to go and recruit Acererak the Devourer who has impressed Orcus by becoming a very powerful undead without groveling at his hooves. He recruits the Lord of Unlife as a General in his army. Acererak has begun to build his masterpeice the Tomb of Horrors. Acererak developed the tomb for the sole purpose to capture souls and experiment. By the year 475 IR the Tomb of Horrors has become an adventuring legend.
Tenebrous took notice of the fiendish traps Acererak and Archwraith Moghadam designed in the tomb; and now have them designing a locked portal to Orcusgate in Thanatos. Orcus felt this would add protection for his wand, and help ensure his victory as the Baron of Bloodstone's theft of his wand was the single most contributing event to his downfall. The Devourer needs power to complete his final touches, and had been researching a set of artifacts called the Heart Artifacts. These were the Heart of Air, Fire, Earth, Water, and Void. Orcus retrieves these for his General. He also starts planning where to hide the Heart artifact keys through space and time. He shatters the Heart of Air into six peices; the sixth peice is the largest, and every other peice is a little smaller. Orcus offers the largest peice off the shattered Heart of Air to be a power source to aid in the construction of the tomb.
The future Orcus then spends the next 100 years in silence devising his plan to kill the Past version of himself; Reclaiming his divinity and wand. The Red Wizard Zhengyi that made Castle Perilous was just not powerful enough for Tenebrous' goals, and he had learned through Cyrog that a vampire named Strahd had created himself a demi plane, and by linking his essence with 3 altars in Barovia has turned himself into a minor deity. He has no worshippers, but his mastery of the demi plane makes him a great choice for being a General. Strahd is infused with a desire to help the Prince of the Undead, and joins his war. Orcus gets Strahd to make his throne room a demi plane, and now none can get in without a diving rod. Orcus has the only one. With Acererak completing the Heartlock barrier to Orcusgate, and now Strahd's addition; the Wand of Orcus is now guarded.
The Prince of the Undead chose Greyhawk, Hightower Tor -310 CY/500 DR; Traveling back in time to place the smallest peice of the Heart of Air in a zombie of his making, and imbue it with the shards power . As this was in the plains of Ull amongst barbarian tribes focused on conquering and slavery; Orcus felt this long forgotten Tor was safe from returning to Faerun to be reassembled into the Heart of Air.
Demogorgon has always been at war with Orcus; or Orcus has always wanted the Prince of Demons title, and been at war with Demogorgon. As the Prince of the Undead has been altering the timeline the Deep Father has taken notice. Aameul and Hathradiah might plot against each other, but it is their split personas that enabled them to realize the subtle changes to the time line. One change was a prized treasure that was possessed by Demogorgon, the Heart of Air. Hathradiah remembered staring at it calmed his emotions, and he could work with Aameul on some levels. Discovering that Orcus was behind its disappearance led to finding out what has happened. Even though the Deep father doesnt know Orcus' plan,he knows if it succeeds then he would inevitably come to try and kill Demogoron. Aameul being more charasmatic of the two heads found a group of mighty adventurers to do their bidding. Seans group of Erqua Ishilim, Dig Dug, and Narvik were tasked with finding the Heart of Air. After recovering a peice of the artifact from Hightower Tor Sean and friends know it was shattered now. Through scrying and divination they have learned there are answers scattered through time and space
Quah-Nomag found a long lost world called the Scarred Lands. Through study and torture he was able to acquire a unique highly magical substance called Earth Blood; and it cost Quah two shards of the Heart of Air, the 2nd and 3rd shards. With the limited supply he had Nomag was able to stabilize the Spellplague Portals, and place them in locations of his choosing. He used up all the substance in his experiments. Now the thrall is campaigning Temples of Orcus to scour the Stoneheart Mountains in Ghelspad to find the Earth Blood, and make Spellplague Portals to transport the Prince of the Undeads armies from all the different time periods through the eras of Orcus' reign. One of the two portals was given to Acererak to use as a trap in his tomb. The Devourer used the 4th peice of the shard as bait.
After hundreds of years of tugging and pulling at the weaves of time and reality Orcus remerges in Bloodstone Village 1347 DR. Cyrog found a memory from Gareth Dragonsbane where he was vulnerable. A mentor of his had passed away from old age, and he went to the clear his mind in the rolling hills around Bloodstone Village. Orcus appears here, and the fight is over fairly quickly as he Slays the Baron of Bloodstone. Orcus has severed a timeline, and undoubtedly changed history...forever.
Orcus was slain by Kiransalee in the previous timeline, but now Tenebrous shows up 1360 DR at her temple dragging the corpse of the present Orcus, and Gareth Dragonsbane in tow. He tells her what her future plan is, how it leads her to death, and how it isnt possible as The thief is not alive to contribute to his future weakness, and I still have my wand past when the event unfolded. He then says he has imprisoned Baphomet in a maze in Thanatos. The only way to get out of the maze is to defeat him and remove the power supply, the Heart of Earth. Next He then tells her that he wants her to be one of his Generals. For joining me I will imprison Lolth in a temporal prison, and her fate will be tied to the Heart of Void. She joins Orcus' war. He gives her the 5th peice of the Heart of Air, and she uses this to grant power to Irae's weave of corruption, and bring the undying temple to the prime plane. lolth is imprisoned in a Temporal Stasis, and the silence of Lolth begins in 1360 DR, twelve years early. Irae with the power given her from Kiransalee begins summoning the undying temple, and the greater revanance spell. Bringing every creature that dies back as a Revanant under her control.
Tenebrous knows the power Kiransalee would control with the greater revanance spell, and that she will have to die...eventually. Placing the other Heart Artifacts is all that remains to finish his plan. He once again turns his gaze to the King's Layer of the Abyss, and summons Yeenoghu. Orcus is fascinated over the Beast of Butchery's desire to kill everything and bathe in its warm blood. He says he will allow the Gnoll Lord to continue ruling King's Layer if he serves at my will, and is General of my Elite personal guard. Yennoghu desires the power Orcus offers, and joins his war. The Prince of Undead bestows the Heart of Fire artifact upon him to acknowledge his position. Finally Orcus summons his sense of humor, and meets with Jubilexx. He gives the Faceless Lord the Heart of Water artifact, telling him it will help him in his quest to consume all. Orcus demands nothing knowing anyone that might try and collect the keys has to go in there and get it. Now the Prince of the Undead has to wait for the portals, and the greater revanance. Allow his Generals to amass their army and wage war. Until then Orcus will protect his wand, and his vision of Total Undeath.
Orcus has lived for well over 1000 years. He was a mortal that spent his life being truly evil. Living in the Prime Material Plane, and as all evil mortals his soul went to the Abyss. To become Orcus he climbed his way through the Demonic ranks until he became a Balor. From there he became Demon Lord, and then Prince of the Undead.
In 1347 DR Orcus was planning a massive campaign to make the heavens, earth, and Abyss all under his rule; and wrought of all living creatures. He was sculpting Generals for his armies. One was the Red Wizard Zhengyi whom he turned into a lich. Zhengyi made Castle Perilous to protect his phylactery in 1348 DR. By 1357 DR Castle Perilous and Orcus lost their power when Gareth Dragonsbane and his party found and stole orcus' wand; then returned to rule over Bloodstone.
Doresain was at one time a vassal of Orcus, his right hand, and the King of Ghouls. He was given the priviledge to command the King's Layer of the Abyss. Yeenoghu invaded and conquered this layer, because Orcus had no power. Doresain was forced to swear fealty and pay hommage to the Beast of Butchery. Yeenoghu eventually loses control of the layer and the King. He now is exploring all possibilities to reastablish his dominance. Doresain feels betrayed by Orcus, and vows to finish his plan of universal occupancy by the dead, and make himself a greater deity.
With the wand stolen from Orcus in 1357 DR, and his generals eliminated; Kiransalee saw an opportunity to kill the Blood Lord and did. The Vengeful Banshee didnt rule the realm for too long. The Lord of the Undead was resurrected as Tenebrous, and reclaimed his domain through mastery of The Last Word. Kiransalee was unwillingly forced to be a vassal of Lolth, and was until shortly before her death. While she was alive the banshee made a move by getting her High Prietess Irae T'sarran to create a weave of corruption to summon Kiransalee's Undying Temple to the Prime Plane, and create a nonstop Graverending. This was posible as the Silence of Lloth began in 1372 DR, and Lolthites were powerless. The Undying Temple was not summoned, and worshippers of Lolth didnt convert to Kiransalee. She spent her last moments blaming Lolth and Orcus for her demise.
Orcus was eventually killed again by the Power of the Last Word which he used to return himself to ruling Thanatos. Quah-Nomag was one of his high priests and thralls; He raised Orcus in the Astral Plane, 1440 DR. Losing his power of Divinity once again lowered his standing to a Demon Lord; and he used the vestige of Tenebrous to restore some of his divinity. With time passing into the late 1500s DR he found himelf in the Underdark. There he used his Necromatic power to control a dead elder brain named Cyrog. It is here that being in control of this dead mindflayer brain that new possibilities to bring Orcus back to being a major player begin to form. Orcus is able to remember back through time, and see mistakes that were made by him and others. He then over hundreds of years begins to peice together how to fix his mistakes, Gather the perfect Generals for his armies, Fix Their mistakes and assure his victory over the heavens and earth. Learning that Shar killed Mystra in 1400s DR and this created the spellplague. This sent spellplague ripples through space and time. He charges Quah-Nomag with discovering a spell to predict when, where, and time these portals will open to.
Tenebrous puts his plan into action when he travels through a spellplague rift, and goes back in time to 1000 DR, or 175 IR according to Kalamar Imperial Reckoning calendars. There was a mage that caught the eye of Orcus, by the name of Keraptis who dedicated his life to immortality. He is noted in greyhawk history as early as Circa Year -1500. He was known for demanding payments for his protecting services; especially in the Griff Mountains by controlling the local Warlords. Around -1100 CY Keraptis started demanding the tribes pay him with all firstborn children for protection. The tribes eventually revolted, and forced Keraptis to leave the area. He spent hundreds of years experimenting on these children and others; Eventually after claiming White Plume mountain around -800 CY as his; hundreds of experiments on all kinda of beings that were trapped in the mountain. In 90 CY Keraptis was able to create a ritual that would send his consciousness into a fetus. He chose one from the Balor Tarnhem and a woman Kecethri. The child was named Acererak and was stillborn a human lich, half-fiend. Keraptis' conscience then brought undeath to the child. Now calling himself Acererak he takes up the sign of the Devourer, and begins different ways to plot the end of the human race. Any sight of Keraptis, and his phylactery have never been seen again.
Orcus' first use of the portal travel is to go and recruit Acererak the Devourer who has impressed Orcus by becoming a very powerful undead without groveling at his hooves. He recruits the Lord of Unlife as a General in his army. Acererak has begun to build his masterpeice the Tomb of Horrors. Acererak developed the tomb for the sole purpose to capture souls and experiment. By the year 475 IR the Tomb of Horrors has become an adventuring legend.
Tenebrous took notice of the fiendish traps Acererak and Archwraith Moghadam designed in the tomb; and now have them designing a locked portal to Orcusgate in Thanatos. Orcus felt this would add protection for his wand, and help ensure his victory as the Baron of Bloodstone's theft of his wand was the single most contributing event to his downfall. The Devourer needs power to complete his final touches, and had been researching a set of artifacts called the Heart Artifacts. These were the Heart of Air, Fire, Earth, Water, and Void. Orcus retrieves these for his General. He also starts planning where to hide the Heart artifact keys through space and time. He shatters the Heart of Air into six peices; the sixth peice is the largest, and every other peice is a little smaller. Orcus offers the largest peice off the shattered Heart of Air to be a power source to aid in the construction of the tomb.
The future Orcus then spends the next 100 years in silence devising his plan to kill the Past version of himself; Reclaiming his divinity and wand. The Red Wizard Zhengyi that made Castle Perilous was just not powerful enough for Tenebrous' goals, and he had learned through Cyrog that a vampire named Strahd had created himself a demi plane, and by linking his essence with 3 altars in Barovia has turned himself into a minor deity. He has no worshippers, but his mastery of the demi plane makes him a great choice for being a General. Strahd is infused with a desire to help the Prince of the Undead, and joins his war. Orcus gets Strahd to make his throne room a demi plane, and now none can get in without a diving rod. Orcus has the only one. With Acererak completing the Heartlock barrier to Orcusgate, and now Strahd's addition; the Wand of Orcus is now guarded.
The Prince of the Undead chose Greyhawk, Hightower Tor -310 CY/500 DR; Traveling back in time to place the smallest peice of the Heart of Air in a zombie of his making, and imbue it with the shards power . As this was in the plains of Ull amongst barbarian tribes focused on conquering and slavery; Orcus felt this long forgotten Tor was safe from returning to Faerun to be reassembled into the Heart of Air.
Demogorgon has always been at war with Orcus; or Orcus has always wanted the Prince of Demons title, and been at war with Demogorgon. As the Prince of the Undead has been altering the timeline the Deep Father has taken notice. Aameul and Hathradiah might plot against each other, but it is their split personas that enabled them to realize the subtle changes to the time line. One change was a prized treasure that was possessed by Demogorgon, the Heart of Air. Hathradiah remembered staring at it calmed his emotions, and he could work with Aameul on some levels. Discovering that Orcus was behind its disappearance led to finding out what has happened. Even though the Deep father doesnt know Orcus' plan,he knows if it succeeds then he would inevitably come to try and kill Demogoron. Aameul being more charasmatic of the two heads found a group of mighty adventurers to do their bidding. Seans group of Erqua Ishilim, Dig Dug, and Narvik were tasked with finding the Heart of Air. After recovering a peice of the artifact from Hightower Tor Sean and friends know it was shattered now. Through scrying and divination they have learned there are answers scattered through time and space
Quah-Nomag found a long lost world called the Scarred Lands. Through study and torture he was able to acquire a unique highly magical substance called Earth Blood; and it cost Quah two shards of the Heart of Air, the 2nd and 3rd shards. With the limited supply he had Nomag was able to stabilize the Spellplague Portals, and place them in locations of his choosing. He used up all the substance in his experiments. Now the thrall is campaigning Temples of Orcus to scour the Stoneheart Mountains in Ghelspad to find the Earth Blood, and make Spellplague Portals to transport the Prince of the Undeads armies from all the different time periods through the eras of Orcus' reign. One of the two portals was given to Acererak to use as a trap in his tomb. The Devourer used the 4th peice of the shard as bait.
After hundreds of years of tugging and pulling at the weaves of time and reality Orcus remerges in Bloodstone Village 1347 DR. Cyrog found a memory from Gareth Dragonsbane where he was vulnerable. A mentor of his had passed away from old age, and he went to the clear his mind in the rolling hills around Bloodstone Village. Orcus appears here, and the fight is over fairly quickly as he Slays the Baron of Bloodstone. Orcus has severed a timeline, and undoubtedly changed history...forever.
Orcus was slain by Kiransalee in the previous timeline, but now Tenebrous shows up 1360 DR at her temple dragging the corpse of the present Orcus, and Gareth Dragonsbane in tow. He tells her what her future plan is, how it leads her to death, and how it isnt possible as The thief is not alive to contribute to his future weakness, and I still have my wand past when the event unfolded. He then says he has imprisoned Baphomet in a maze in Thanatos. The only way to get out of the maze is to defeat him and remove the power supply, the Heart of Earth. Next He then tells her that he wants her to be one of his Generals. For joining me I will imprison Lolth in a temporal prison, and her fate will be tied to the Heart of Void. She joins Orcus' war. He gives her the 5th peice of the Heart of Air, and she uses this to grant power to Irae's weave of corruption, and bring the undying temple to the prime plane. lolth is imprisoned in a Temporal Stasis, and the silence of Lolth begins in 1360 DR, twelve years early. Irae with the power given her from Kiransalee begins summoning the undying temple, and the greater revanance spell. Bringing every creature that dies back as a Revanant under her control.
Tenebrous knows the power Kiransalee would control with the greater revanance spell, and that she will have to die...eventually. Placing the other Heart Artifacts is all that remains to finish his plan. He once again turns his gaze to the King's Layer of the Abyss, and summons Yeenoghu. Orcus is fascinated over the Beast of Butchery's desire to kill everything and bathe in its warm blood. He says he will allow the Gnoll Lord to continue ruling King's Layer if he serves at my will, and is General of my Elite personal guard. Yennoghu desires the power Orcus offers, and joins his war. The Prince of Undead bestows the Heart of Fire artifact upon him to acknowledge his position. Finally Orcus summons his sense of humor, and meets with Jubilexx. He gives the Faceless Lord the Heart of Water artifact, telling him it will help him in his quest to consume all. Orcus demands nothing knowing anyone that might try and collect the keys has to go in there and get it. Now the Prince of the Undead has to wait for the portals, and the greater revanance. Allow his Generals to amass their army and wage war. Until then Orcus will protect his wand, and his vision of Total Undeath.